Iun

On holiday - yay! New co-teacher cocked-up our observation class by suddenly failing to understand "Ask the pupils this question" - boo. One class is ultra-intelligent - yay! But they behave like animals - boo. Other class is well behaved - yay! But they couldn't open a book that was already open - boo.

Dude, the bloke just had brain surgery! No wonder he can't tell the difference between good and bad stuff... ...in fact, now would be a great time to grab some boob and/or cooch and be all like "I just had me head cut open, I don't know what I be doing!".

Good luck, we'll see you on here soon!

It's the freakiest show.

Did they find any ... sailors, fighting in the dance hall?

What the heck is wrong with Newcastle? Seriously... we can't even score against the Owls?

Been there, done that, had the meltdown. At least twice a quarter. And usually after seven-straight 12-hour days.

I'll see your three grand and raise you... Oh, no, less than that... Sorry. Congratulations!

Well, this is all a bit complicated... Looking at it one way: yay, condomless sex! Another way: hey, it's her body. An additional perspective: she should have spoken to or discussed it with you first. If it genuinely bothers you, have a frank and open conversation about it, but it will probably lead to an argument which is fine so long as you express yourselves politely.

Never saw any of his movies - 80s B-Movie horror was allowed in my best friend's house two doors down, but not my place. To be fair, I don't think we had a VHS until 1989... Anyway, I understand this chap had a huge impact on many lives, and for that I know he will be missed.

So - back to work for two days already! No internet in the office. No power in the office except for lights. No water in the office - or anywhere. No toilet paper. No soap. No hand towels or working hand driers. The whole place is full of clouds of dust and I go home with dust in my mouth, all over my clothes and great black gobs of dust in my snot. Furthermore, they said "Decorate the classrooms" but there are no materials. Except for pink, green and red sheets of dog-eared A2 paper. No printers. No copiers. We're using kid-sized scissors to cut the paper. The school has become an unfunny joke. The buildings are still not finished, the entrance is covered in reject building materials and there are no paving stones. The lunch hall is full of half-naked construction workers sleeping or drinking beer. The school opens to pupils in 48 hours. What a crap fest. And the stupid thing is, some asshole believed that they could get it all done in less than six weeks. What an asshole. I'm no architect, but I could have told you that building new fascias on five enormous buildings, creating completely new floors on existing one-story buildings and landscaping the whole place cannot be done. Or certainly cannot be done in less than six weeks with a Chinese construction crew. And can't be done safely either. Morons. Absolute morons.

I can't sleep next to an open door or window, either. I hate having my back to the door in social situations as well - I want to see who is coming and what their intentions are...

Today, or rather, the remainder of this afternoon and evening is the last of my summer holiday. back to school tomorrow. But worst of all, WORST OF ALL: we have a new office and my desk is likely to leave me with my back to the door, something that sets off my anxiety.

I often eat alone, what with Mrs Iun and I having slightly differing schedules. I prefer it sometimes as there's a little peace.

Back to work next Thursday. Sigh. Never mind, a 7 day working week, 3 days off, then a 6 day week... Somehow that doesn't make sense.

Seeing as I have been out of the UK for almost a decade (SAD SMILEY FACE) I have no idea how this has worked, whether or not it has led to people quitting or that a new stigma has become attached to the habit... All I can say is that here in China, there are 350 million smokers and they will light up anywhere and everywhere - buses, underground, trains, train stations, shopping centres... so I support a total blanket ban. I also support anyone who smokes on public transport or in small enclosed spaces being repeatedly tasered until they crap in their pants.

Congratulations @nightwolf! Fair pay for fair work = Win.

I used to have the same problem with sugar free polos... KAA-RAKKAAA-BOOOM!

Congratulations to you both!

I have to admit that I'm falling out of love with my Wii U. I did not find Smash as engaging as Melee or Brawl, MK8 is just obscenely frustrating with the excessive rubber-banding, I'm sort of enjoying Bayonetta 2 but it doesn't have much of a "wow" factor, Splatoon is pointless for me as I can barely get connected to the internet these days due to the Great Firewall of China and I have never enjoyed any of the Mario platformer games. I want to enjoy the console, I spent a fortune on it, yet I can't find anything outstanding to truly love. Still, I'm looking forward to Zelda, I suppose.

I had a similar problem with Nintendo when, on the first day of purchase, my ex-girlfriend's ASSHOLE OF A CAT chewed through the wire of my sensor bar. They hadn't been given prices for replacement parts, so they couldn't help. And they weren't given prices for about a month. I ended up using two clip-on lights from Woolies. Then I got a new sensor bar at the end of January. Mid February the Wii itself got a corrupted memory error. And they wouldn't send it to China once they repaired it.

Started playing this. Because there's basically nothing else available that I haven't already played. It's fine. Not great. The story hasn't wowed me.

I don't think anybody does, really. We've had so much of the same thing at school - days off are set out at the beginning of the year, so you make your plans, then suddenly, you're working late five nights to cover for a day off that they say was put in by mistake. And you know what else? If you clock in here a minute late or leave a minute early, there's an automatic, non-appealable deduction from your salary. And if you voluntarily stay late for a few hours... that's your own stupid fault and you don't get any credit for it.

Sorry to hear that @Cube, my grandfather passed last year from cancer after being given the all clear. I hope they are able to ease the pain at the absolute minimum. @EEVILMURRAY I am genuinely considering relocation from China to the US. There are two hurdles - teacher licensure, which is doable but means being a substitute for the first year. Then there's the actual salaries, which are piss-poor in comparison to what I earn now.